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408 comments on “Open Thread XIX”

Testing, testing. Hey I managed it..sort of, the link to the old Open Thread is still up the top. Can this one please be avoided if possible as it’s almost impossible to download due to the number of comments.

It’s all a bit nonsensical anyway Min. NBN is planning the rollout in the most efficient way for them – it’s got nothing to do with electorate boundaries, more to do with where the major telephone exchanges are sited, now that they’ve got Telstra’s pits and pipes to use…

grodo, wouldn’t be the first piece of unpopular legislation to go ahead and let’s face it, the carbon pricing scheme is only unpopular because of the snow job perpetrated by the Liars and their barrackers.

And unlike the GST, the government won’t be hijacking everybody’s wallets every time they buy something. There will be more money in their wallets when they buy a pair of shoes, not less.

And the $18,000 tax free threshold will be even more popular.

I think that’s why Sneerleader is so frantic to have Thomson blackened, smeared and gone from the Parliament asap.

Once the above two measures are cranked up, it will be that much harder for him to spin his bullshit. People will see that they’ve been deliberately lied to by the Liars AND the msm. No extra tax imposed, in fact the tax take will more than likely be lower.

I predict that the huffing and puffing from the three big fat pigs will come to nothing and they’ll have to fork out their due. Another win for the government and we punters.

The rusted ons will still badmouth the government, even as the hypocrites pocket the dough.

So, nice try, but still no cigar.

I was lurking at LP a day or so ago and I notice that they are also infected with the broad brush condemnation of the government and the PM.

Never anything to support their claims, just the usual Liars Party bullshit-incompetence, poor legislative record, too much legislation passed, baaad legislation, carbon “tax” (accompanied by scowl), PM has big bum, wears jackets, pointy nose, leads badly, government in disarray, almost, but not quite, saying she shouldn’t be negotiating, Labor hopeless at getting their message out while carefully avoiding the role of the msm in the inability to get the message out, etc, etc.

The greens would NEVER compromise on their program blah, blah, mainly from Fran Barlow. The fact that they will probably never be in the position where they have to negotiate or compromise makes that argument pretty hollow.

It amazes me that they seem to have swallowed the Liars Party bullshit whole.

Is it my internet at fault, but it seems that every time I log on just lately, I have to re-enter my details, even if I’ve already logged on with the same computer that day?

Bacchus, there was a mild song and dance about the NBN being rolled out in Tony Windsor’s electorate – but it was an ideal place to start due to the presence of the University of New England. All major city based universities have had super fast broadband for a number of years, they’ve had to in order to compete.

AntonyG at 1.22
Thanks for the link to an interesting piece. This whole thing has been turned into a quasi criminal investigation purely to suit Abbott’s convenience & is a shocking conspiracy on the part of the MSM in its entirety. A complete triumph for the Perpetual Present. From an industry on a permanent hair trigger readiness to tout its own infallible capacity to police itself.

BSA Bob, if the msm had any ethics whatsoever they would have stood up for principles. The media has degenerated into little more than gossip magazines. Thomson was guilty the media decided, therefore it was just a matter of finding the evidence which they and Tony Abbott demanded.

He is refusing point blank, against his own report, to allow an urgently needed second airport for Sydney.

Not only that he is going against that same report that says his Canberra Airport expansion linked to high speed rail to Sydney is not viable and is pushing it.

But then he goes and shits off the media and they have turned around to bite him. He was due for one of his now regular grandstanding outings, this time at a big horse race meet but the press were there to grill him over his second airport stance, so he didn’t show, and the media gave him curry for it.

I was going to give O’Farrell a second term and though the Liberals might be in power four years hence for another four methinks O’Farrell won’t be.

Sue, I agree with you. To me, if someone is “brave” then the implication is that there is some danger there. And why should there be. Should I be “brave” for being blonde..hang on, don’t answer that. ;)

Back on track..brave to admit that a person is gay? Brave to admit that one has Aboriginal blood? Brave to admit that one is Muslim? The implication is one of danger or something not acceptable.

No wonder Abbott needs govt before July 1, he knows he will not be able to simply say No to this Carbon Tax benefit, and so do Hockey and Robb.

“One million workers will no longer have to pay tax or lodge a tax return under a tripling of the tax-free threshold to apply from July 1.
A new analysis prepared by Treasury reveals that the decision to triple the tax-free threshold will ensure 121,000 Queenslanders no longer have to pay any tax.
Part-time workers, students, mums in casual work as well as retirees will benefit from the Government’s decision to lift the tax-free threshold from $6000 to $18,000.
From the new financial year, workers will be able to earn $336 a week without paying tax under the tripling of the tax-free threshold to compensate for the carbon tax.

Gillard is a girl who knows what she’s doing. By the 2nd half of this year Abbott’s leadership is going to be the subject of a lot of headlines.

Speaking of the media, and I don’t know whether it’s been mentioned here on this blog but did anyone notice the article where Bob Carr was asked whether he would make a play for the leadership. This was followed by further speculation that Peter Garrett would step down to make way for Carr.

This interview says it all. We do not know what will happen when the FWA releases it report.

For Mr. Abbott, it is not about justice. It is about his obsessive quest for power.

I believe that much of what Mr. Fitzgibbon was accuses of, that led to his resignation as Defence Minister was also found to be false.

My emphasis.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Well, Fair Work Australia’s report will be publicly released within four to six weeks; won’t that give Tony Abbott more ammunition against the Government?

JOEL FITZGIBBON: Well Tony Abbott will be hoping the release of the report gives him more ammunition; he’s demonstrated that he will use any method and any means to grab power. His view of the world is that if he can’t run the country, he won’t allow anyone else to do so.

We don’t know what’s in the Fair Work Australia report, so I can’t say whether it’s going to help Tony Abbott or not. But I do know Tony Abbott’s behaviour more reflects someone hungry for government than it reflects a person who is keen to uphold longstanding conventions, including, of course, the very important convention of the separation of powers.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Do you think that this report will clear Craig Thomson has he has said it will?

JOEL FITZGIBBON: Well I have no idea what the report says but it’s obvious that Tony Abbott is hopeful that it’s going to say something that is helpful to his quest for power. But we’ll have to wait and see.

I saw that and immediately thought the msm was trying to create controversy.
Particularly as the msm had been shown up as being ABSOLUTELY wrong about attacking Carr on his comments on PNG.
Yes the msm and Bishop were keen to say the “new boy” in foreign affairs had made a huge mistake by talking about sanctions.

Well guess who read the developing situation in PNG and who was wrong. And guess who has been showing up the msm for not doing their job on Abbott. So rather than apologising or even being journalists the msm tries undermining Carr by suggesting a leadership battle.

I think Joel F is awaiting a decision by a judge on whether The Age have to disclose their source. The judged declared they did and then The Age appealed. Helen Liu has always claimed the source was a fiction.

Why is Mr. Abbott’s coming out at this time. Why the continuing of discussions. Is he still attempting to counsel her.

Is it Mr. Abbott or the sister that has put this in the public arena.

If Mr. Abbott, it backs up the impression that he will do anything to gain being PM. It shows that he is becoming desperate.

If it is the sister, is gives the political message that she does not believe with her brother.

It appears that one or the other has bought the matter to the public’s notice.

The Opposition leader said the decision of Christine Forster, 47, to confirm her relationship with Virginia Edwards was courageous.
However, it would not affect the Coalition’s policy on marriage.
“We’ve had a lot of interesting discussions and we’ll keep those discussions going, but fundamentally I want to be a politician that keeps my commitments,” Mr Abbott told The Sunday Telegraph.

and if this is true, what is her motive.

Ms Forster and Ms Edwards triggered media speculation after the pair were photographed together supporting gay marriage at the Lesbians in the (Opera) House concert last year.
The decision to come out followed extensive consultation with her family, Ms Forster said.
“I have decided to publicly confirm that I am gay and am in a committed, live-in relationship with Virginia,” she told.

Cu, and Hitler did very nicely by targetting a focus group and running with the theme that the average person 1. should be afraid 2. that the average person was missing out and that ‘the others’ were stealing from good citizens.

Sue @10.07am, obviously all these idiots have forgotten how long Carr has been in politics. this is no green horn they’re trying to flim flam, but a seasoned performer.

Min @10.09am, CU has gone straight to the heart of the matter. And as the quote from Sue’s link confirms, he has to force an election before the punters have a taste of the benefits from the budget.

I figured that was the reason for his increased hysteria; he can’t afford for people to reap the benefits of this government’s economic policies. Most have not appreciated the benefits of the $900 cash handout, nor the economy rescue implocit in the BER and HIP programs, because the msm and Liars were able to successfully poison their minds against them.

However, the increased tax free threshold and the compensation flowing directly into their pockets will be more difficult to spin negatively.

I thought Joel Fitzgibbon handled that interview adroitly. Government spokespeople seem to be gaining in confidence daily and are much less prepared to put up with msm bullshit!

CU @10.21am, Garrett won’t resign. He’s really coming into his own under this PM. Yet another msm fishing expedition.

And @10.27, he’s not becoming desperate, he’s past that and into melt down.

Hitler proved that public opinion can be manipulated. Manipulated to the degree that they believe things that are not in their favour.

And proved again in the US recently when the Tea Party and their cheerleaders convinced the poor and disenfranchised that Obama’s health plan was against their interests.

Jane, I’m not so certain that it’s to do with the punters waking up that this government is actually delivering..but more to do with people waking up that Abbott could indeed be our next Prime Minister..(shakes head).

Sometimes you have to be very careful what you wish for..therefore it will be a reality check, is this the person who you want to be Prime Minister??

Another link to NorthCoastVoices. this story highlighting the NSW Attorney General, Smith. Has Smith lied to the NSW Parliament? This story as well as the one form 7.30 regarding the priest, should be investigated by the msm.

jane, I have a daughter that every time I even look like talking politics,turns me off. She did not turn me off today.

She is interested in the extra money for the kids and think that the new threshold is marvelous. She works from home and does not earn a great deal more. She does have a wonderful accountant that get the amount down, but this still benefits her, especially not having to put in a return. A million more taxpayers will be in this position.

From her reaction, saying she heard something this morning, tells me the message is slowly getting through.

I remember when I was a young child, visiting Vauclause House in Sydney.

Two thing that still remain clear in my mind, was a ball about the size of a soccer ball and the picture on the wall, that eyes followed me all over the room.

The ball was a meteorite.

I am still uncomfortable around such portraits.

PS jane, I bet if I mentioned Thompson name, she would not have known what I was talking about.

‘The constitution doesn’t even recognise the existence of the office of prime minister – it’s a convention,’ Senator Brandis told the Ten Network on Sunday.

He recalled that in January 1968 Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party after Prime Minister Holt drowned and there was a brief interlude before he resigned to contest a by-election in the lower house.

Senator Brandis said the last time a national Westminister parliament had a government run from the upper house was in 1902 whenhttp://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2012/04/08/Carr_a_constitutional_curiosity_Brandis_737537.html

…..and this not not lying. Where did the information come from that it was on a Federal Statutory Form. After this article, I question the independence of the NSW Police and DPP.

On Thursday, Kath Palmer told The Daily Examiner the statutory declaration she signed was on the back of a NSW speeding infringement notice.
Inquiries to the Office of State Revenue yesterday confirmed all NSW

Brandis is perfectly correct, there is nothing in the Constitution which provides any job description for the office of Prime Minister, so he/she could come from either House of Parliament. However, convention dictates that our Prime Minister is the leader of the ruling political party.

As Australia does not have an individual election for the office of Prime Minister then clearly the only way that he/she could be elected to this office is by being the leader of the party which wins the election

Theoretically we could have a person being Prime Minister who is either an Independent or from the opposition benches. There is nothing in our Constitution barring this. However it’s very far fetched.

Ha, alone in the cafe at last… now where is that cellar door….. KEY, who needs a key, i’m from the hill, we know how to improvise…… ( i.e. it’s been put on el gordos tab,shh)….just found a bottle of Torbreck’s The Laird, crickey Mig’s what a great cellar fella, now where are the cashews and the chicken thins…… aint I the gourmand….cheers big ears…. ;)

(It’s probably too late – Miglo once tried to hide ‘Stanner‘ as a keyword and as a (self-)directed homework (re)source from me – but, I’ll wish him and his a very Happy Easter, too, in his quasi-absence.)

Integrity, as in that Tony is not to be believed unless it’s in writing – compassion such as badmouthing a dying Bernie Banton – courtesy as in swearing at Nicola Roxon – tolerance such as saying that women wearing the hijab were confronting and that the Tent Embassy was past its use by date.

Why are we not hearing screams from Mr. Abbott on this issues. If the allegations are true, much more money of the members, he claims to be acting on behalf of, is much greater.

The union peak bodies are more interested in this man than Mr. Thompson.

Noticed that the police are also slow in acting in this matter as well. Could it be that any inquiry into union is very complex. This is made harder by the fact, the investigations are over nearly a decade.

Hardly a word from Mr. Abbott. Nothing about the many others in the firing line as well.

Only one he is interested in is Mr. Thompson. One reason only, he sees him as a ticket to the job he so much envies.

Members of the union’s national executive had a telephone conference today to discuss Mr Williamson’s fate.

HSU acting national president Chris Brown says ten of the fourteen members had decided the controversy surrounding Mr Williamson had caused enough damage.

He says the national executive had been waiting for the various police and other investigations to produce their findings over allegations of corruption and fraudulent activity against Mr WILLIAMSON “but these investigations are dragging on and on and we just cant wait any longer.”

Mr Brown says he spoke to Mr Williamson yesterday and he has refused to quit.

There was in the USA a programme aimed at lifting Negro kids out of poverty.

I think it was called Headstart.

Money was thrown at the children from birth, enhancing the environment they live in.

‘I believe that Labor is on the right track when it is aiming some of the budget at pre-school.

It is at this stage that it is easier to bring change about.

The secret is in enhancing and improving the home life of these kids.

Of the schools funded under the federal government’s national partnership in literacy and numeracy, Ms Gillard says 17 were initially identified as performing substantially below the standard of schools teaching similar groups of students.

“As of 2012, they are no longer classified as below-standard,” she says.

“A further 110 schools were identified in 2010 as performing at levels substantially below that of similar schools . . . and as of 2012, there are only seven of these 110 schools classified as below-standard.

“We may not run schools or directly deliver education services, but we are still driving the most significant education reform agenda in living memory.

“The conclusion of The Australian’s analysis, that there is not currently a level playing field in our education system, is spot-on and has been one of the two central reasons for Labor’s reforms.”

Before the meeting of the Council of Australian Governments this week, Ms Gillard says she will be seeking support from state and territory governments to validate the recommendations of the independent review of school funding, chaired by businessman David Gonski.

“As Australia does not have an individual election for the office of Prime Minister then clearly the only way that he/she could be elected to this office is by being the leader of the party which wins the election”

Who ever leads the party, has to gain confidence on the floor of the lower house.

People with high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds tend to live in particular locations but the location is co-incidental NOT causal. It’s the SES ‘location’ that’s crucial.

Not that any of this is new. In the early 1960s James Coleman was commissioned by the US Department of Education to write a report on educational equality in the US. It was a seminal undertaking with more than 150,000 students in the sample resulting in report of more than 700 pages.

Coleman found (among other things that) that the greatest predictor of educational success was a students SES location.. And no study, (and there has been many) have ever found otherwise. So the ‘news’ is 50 plus years old. it was the ‘logic’ behind the Karmel Report and is also behind the Gonski recommendations.. (I won’t go into how Howard gave new meaning to the SES concept to suit his base political ends at this time.)

As for:

think it was called Headstart

It was. And the results were mixed. But an additional program called ‘Headstart Follow through’ was much more successful

The secret is in enhancing and improving the home life of these kids

Yes! But the truth is that’s almost an impossible dream. For starters, how does one ‘educate’ the parents (it’s more than awareness)? A more realistic path is to provide additional resources at the school level. it’s what karmel recommended. It’s what Gonski recommends.

This Labor Government ought to get off its arse, forget about a ‘surplus’, and do the ‘correct’ thing.

From a society based point of view, it can be seen as the attitude towards education – that is, a matter of expectations. Children from wealthier families are expected to go to university whereas children from lower income families are expected to leave school and get a job. The anomaly comes from low income migrant and refugee families where there is a high value placed on being well educated. It is nothing for extended families to pool their resources in order to obtain the best education for their children. The children therefore are expected to excel on behalf of the entire family.

Col, therefore it’s absolutely correct, one cannot educate the parents/change their attitude and so it is essential that lower income children be provided with the best equipment and especially the best teachers. Previously and I do not know the current situation, but it was inexperienced teachers who were given “the worst school”, ie those in poorer neighborhoods. Inexperience does not necessarily equate with a bad teacher, but neither does it ensure a good one.

Sadly, that is true. And, the worst thing to have happened in recent years is the availabilty of cheaper private education, which takes away from the public schools an ever increasing number of children with parents who are active in their childrens education. The public system is left with an ever increasing percentage of students with parents who it appears really couldn’t care. That is not to say that all public students are like that, as our children go to public schools, and I do care, a lot. Unfortunatley, the teachers there are becoming more and more like day-care operators, and the overall expectations within the class are lowered as larger number of successful students are filtered out to these private schools. And, really, I don’t blame the parents of these kids who are leaving, we have agonised over it ourselves. And now, it has become a self-perpetuating policy, the more that go, the harder it is to leave your kid there.

The Government need to rectify this inbalance soon, before it becomes too difficult to rectify, and we end with a totally unbalanced educational system.

Interesting how the oo is playing this now though, considering how staunchly they supported the initial move by howard that created this abysmal mess.

My thinking is that they see they can now, in hindsight, as it is Labor lumped with the mess.

What is interesting is that, six months ago, Swan was being lambasted in the media cos he couldn’t get a surplus,

Now, when it is apparent that they will get one, the story has changed, and a surplus is apparently bad for us. I even saw an article the other day telling us how bad lower interest rates would be :shock:

What is most troubling now is not how biased the papers are, but how blatant they are about it. The best thing the Government can do, is go to war with them, and, at every soundbight, just reiterate facts, don’t get into mindless debates with the toadies, tell them what the Governemnt wants to get out, not what they want.

ignore the one holding the microphone, concentrate on the microphone itself

I remember the discussion around the time of the ’07 election..that if Labor won that at last they would receive a fair hearing, the assumption being that it was the government who received the positive publicity and that it was the opposition who received little at all. Little did we know that it was not to do with who was the government, but all to do with the political party.

I think that a bad mistake was made from the start of Labor in power, that they also thought the same thing – that they being the government, that the media would have to provide appropriate publicity for it’s programs. Of course, the opposite has been true.

So therefore yes, The best thing the Government can do, is go to war with them,

I read someone musiing over at pollbludger that one reason the media are so anti Gov is that they are looking for Government advertising. If the media won’t report their message, the Governemnt will be forced to use it’s own revenue to advertise it, and that will have to go through the media agents.

Conspiracy theories abound ;)

Personally, I thnk it is just that they are diametrically opposed to the Governements programs, and prefer to misinform their readers rather than admit that, just perhaps, they were wrong.

There is definitely that perception, fed largely by our media (who, as I said, appear to be having second thought)

I am beginning to question it myself. I do know that a larger and larger proportion of a teachers time in the public education system is taken up with looking after problem students, which, as I said, is largely due to the larger proportion of them these days.

I can only see this as having a detrimental effect on education. We balance that with the realisation that we, as parents, have to take a more pro-active role than previously, and, I must admit, the teachers themselves are very helpful (and appreciative) in this regard.

Catching up is right. Parent involvement makes all the difference. Quite apart from what happens in school it also reflects what’s going on at home. It doesn’t even need money for overseas trips, though family togetherness in things like that is great. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to help your child make the best of whatever quality education they’re getting by helping with homework. And parents being part of all the things going on outside the classroom helps too – sports and plays and excursions. During years of teaching and then later administration I couldn’t help but notice that the kids whose parents I got to know in that way somehow did better and had a richer school experience, regardless of their particular talents and abilities and even the family’s income!

I’ve seen parents who have sent their children to private schools who have had no change in the results that their children are achieving. Many people seem to think that because they are paying $$s that it follows that their children will do better.

However, it’s been shown over and over that it’s the parents and their interest in their children’s education which achieve results. Therefore we have a stay at home mother helping her children, attending open days etc compared with both parents working to be able to afford private school fees..parents arrive home both tired and have no time for other activities such as taking kids to soccer training. Result: the child’s school results go down.

THE billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer, property developers and waste management interests all lined up to help finance the Liberal National Party’s rout of Labor in Queensland, according to the party’s declaration to the state electoral commission yesterday.

“Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has led the Liberal Party’s relentless negative campaign against the NBN, may be pleased he will not be able to connect to the network for at least three years, as his Davidson home in Sydney’s Northern Beaches is well outside the suburbs included in the recent announcement.”

Sadly alcohol won’t help, Bacchus! You need as much water, ie plain H2O, as you can get into you and lots of sleep! You have my sympathy. I just had a bout of flu but fortunately I know a good acupuncturist who also prescribed a simple Chinese herbal powder to have with all that water. I was feeling better within the day and pretty well cured within three. A bit of a sniffle hung around for a while. But I did feel rotten! Such bliss to be over it.

If you don’t believe in acupuncture then even anti-histamines, e.g. minimal dose polarimine, and aspirin will help as long as you get plenty of fluids, preferably plain water or even vegetable juices, into you. Avoid sugars, even pure fruit juice. Maybe hot lemon, but go easy on the honey! And get lots of sleep! Good luck!

Bacchus, you could spend a lot of money on the ‘latest’ fad, vitamin program, use a nanna method or what ever anti-biotic your Dr. gives ya and be healed in 2 or 3 days…. you could spend no money and do nothing and achieve the same result. No matter which way you go it will still be 2 or 3 days. my only suggestion is that alcohol sterilises, mm…… so be kind on yourself, relax, get stuck in…. remember Brandy is a medicine as is Torbreck’s The Laird, so really all you need to do is go on a bender for 3 days and all will be well (ish).

This is where the Blot comes adrift, that is the difference between freedom of speech and racial vilification. The Act indicates an exemption when:

a fair comment – but only if the comment reflects a view that a fair-minded person could have held and the person who made it actually holds that view.

The Blot’s views do not indicate that of a fair-minded person and also by attempting to excuse himself during his previous loss at court, it was shown that he did not hold those views but expressed them with the sole purpose being to incite others.

Pesky things, those facts. I think it is time someone took him to court over his abuse of climate science. Then we’d just have a grodo, posting links to graphs without any sort of reference. Just a squiggly line on a screen.

RUS is correct Bolt can state that people are obtaining unfair advantage due to their Aboriginality, but he has to be able to prove it. Bolt makes such claims based on his own opinions which are not backed by any factual information, and so ended up with a conviction for vilification/defamation.

‘CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Copper — the stuff of pennies and tea kettles — is also one of the few metals that can turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels with relatively little energy. When fashioned into an electrode and stimulated with voltage, copper acts as a strong catalyst, setting off an electrochemical reaction with carbon dioxide that reduces the greenhouse gas to methane or methanol.’

Bolt is not just a dill, but a dangerous dill because he stirs up the slightly very unhinged element in society.

Bolt does this by giving credence to otherwise inappropriate opinions such as that a person is too white to be a real Aboriginal. Genetics have never been particularly selective – you have have 2 people, one blonde blue eyed and the other of a darker skin and brown eyed..these two people are brothers and so have an identical mix of “coloured blood”.

Bolt went right to the heart of the Stolen Generations, that the lighter children were taken but their darker skinned siblings were left behind. Then morons such as Bolt come out and say that lighter Aboriginal people aren’t really real, but have obtained BENEFIT.

Oh dear..poor old Clive..I wonder if this might be Palmer’s China First project, where there is a suspended action at the High Court for misleading and deceptive conduct.

CHINESE authorities are cracking down on foreign investment after a string of troubled projects that have run up tens of billions of dollars in losses, including two big resources deals in Australia.

In a decision that will have implications for Australia’s booming resources sector, China’s State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has published new rules that will hold state-owned enterprises and their executives accountable for bad overseas investment decisions.

The largest Chinese investment project in Australia, the $7 billion CITIC Pacific Sino Iron project, conceived by the magnate Clive Palmer, has been dogged by huge cost blowouts and delay. The budget for the project has almost tripled from the initial $2.5 billion estimate.

A second big investment project, the $2 billion Sinosteel Midwest project, was shelved last year after a string of difficulties. The head of Sinosteel, Huang Tianwen, reportedly lost his job because of investments that had gone awry in Western Australia.

Bacchus, it’s certainly not good news for the Greens as Bob Brown has always given the position of leader some gravitas, and it’s highly unlikely that anyone can come close to providing this sort of leadership.

‘Once in a generation’ scheme
Disability group Every Australian Counts is calling for the states to fast-track the rollout of the NDIS at today’s meeting.

The group’s campaign manager, John Della Bosca, says a blueprint for the scheme has already been created by the Productivity Commission.

Mr Della Bosca says the leaders must avoid discussions of cost shifting or penny-pinching and take decisive action.

“It’s a huge, once-in-a-generation change,” he said.

“[It’s] an opportunity for everybody around this table today to show true leadership and make the decision that Australia needs a National Disability Insurance Scheme, [to] make the key decisions around what kind of scheme it needs to be.”

AntonyG @1.26pm, Too Late Tony’s done it again and again, and……… Like a spoiled kid who keeps changing his mind and thinks everyone is going to hold the train until he’s ready.

Sorry, Too Late, the train’s left the station and there won’t be another one for for the next big once-in-a-lifetime bill.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. So far the husbandy substance & I overslept this morning, making him an hour late for the scrub bashing job he’s just started, I spilled a great splosh of laundry detergent over the laundromat this morning (having to do the washing at the laundromat due to lack of water) and I’ve just received a $2,000 bill from our ex-electricity provider.

Over the next three years, the carbon price will be fixed, starting at $23, so that component is easy to predict.
The carbon intensity of electricity in each jurisdiction is well known (see table below). It is highest in Victoria where they rely heavily on brown coal to generate their electricity; it is lowest in Tasmania where they have a lot of hydro electricity generation. In fact, Victoria’s electricity generators produce four times as much CO2 per kilowatt as their Tasmanian counterparts.
NSW/ACT
0.89
Victoria
1.21
Queensland
0.88
South Australia
0.68
Western Australia
0.8
Tasmania
0.3
Northern Territory
0.67
While emission of intensity of today’s generation is well known, what is less clear is how rapidly it will fall in response to the introduction of the carbon price and other policies. Generally, the quicker it falls, the lower the impact of the carbon price on electricity bills.
The proportion of the carbon price that is passed onto consumers is the great unknown, with most projections hovering in the 70-100 per cent range. After July 1, there will finally be hard data on whose projections were most accurate. Again, if a lower proportion of the carbon price is passed onto consumers, the impact on electricity bills will also be lower.

“what is less clear is how rapidly it will fall in response to the introduction of the carbon price and other policies. ”

On 7.30 last night was the head of Westfarmers.He was asked how much the carbon tax would cost that company. He said well no he couldn’t put a figure on it because they had already started making improvements. He said that when they did first calculations, westfarmers produced 160,000 tons @ $23 per ton. But all stores were making changes and the Company was determined to drive down its exposure. At the same time Coles were lowering food costs to its customers.

The interview was a bit of an own goal for Uhlman for as per usual he was looking for a negative reponse rather than the upbeat response he got.

he NSW government has called the carbon tax a “wrecking ball on the economy” and called for the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target to be scrapped.
But Mr Combet said the carbon tax’s projected effect on NSW electricity prices was “exactly in line” with federal government forecasts, and the biggest drivers of electricity price rises in NSW were under state control.
“Tony Abbott has deliberately and wilfully misled the NSW community about this issue,” he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
“Now the independent regulator has come out and said that the average price impact will in fact be exactly what the federal government had forecast.”
He said federal government assistance for NSW households – an average of $10.10 per week – would more than make up for an average electricity price rise of $3.30 per week as a result of the carbon tax.
NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher says the proposed price rises would devastate households and small businesses.

Health Services Union (HSU) national secretary Kathy Jackson has charged colleague Michael Williamson for breaching union rules as she steps up pressure on him to resign.

She has formally charged the HSU national president under the union’s rules, a process she hopes will see him removed.

Alleged corruption and financial mismanagement in the HSU is the subject of police investigations in NSW and Victoria, an internal inquiry headed by Ian Temby QC and a Fair Work Australia investigation.

Mr Williamson denies any wrongdoing and has refused to resign as HSU president.

Ms Jackson says the union rule breaches relate to what she says is Mr Williamson’s refusal to co-operate with the Temby inquiry.

She wants a meeting with the NSW government and has hired Stuart Wood QC to help her prosecute her case.

‘The current farce has to end,’ Ms Jackson told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

‘I want to discuss with the NSW government ideas to bring about fresh elections in HSU East.’

What no more chest beating headlines
No more Can Doisms “get out of my way,

Just……”National skills agreement signed”

and just…..”in particular, the meeting agreed on a new system to guarantee the best possible environmental protection while cutting “double handling” and time delays that can prevent important projects getting off the ground.

and and just……..”Ms Gillard said the COAG meeting also supported the proposed national disability insurance scheme (NDIS)

and even more just……”Some 70 per cent of disability care and support services are funded by state and territory governments.

“To develop a national scheme it was recognised that the level and share of commonwealth funding will need to increase,” it said.

What have we been hearing for the last week or so. The PM is in trouble. The states are hostile. The PM will achieve nothing.

Did not seem too hard today.

No real knock backs as I can see.

All states and territories have signed on to the federal government’s skills package in a deal which is worth $1.75 billion to them in incentive payments.
As well the commonwealth is putting up $7.2 billion over five years to pay for a training entitlement.
It will lead to 375,000 extra people getting skilled qualifications over the next five years, with all working-age Australia

and

Red tape can strangle that productivity.”
In particular, the meeting agreed on a new system to guarantee the best possible environmental protection while cutting “double handling” and time delays that can prevent important projects getting off the ground.
Ms Gillard said the COAG meeting also supported the proposed national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) and the next steps in what would be a nation-changing reform.
“We have all acknowledged our commitment to it,” she said.
“We have also acknowledged that this is a big reform and a big change, and we need to work on it together.
“We will be working on it together in coming months, including addressing things that could deliver real benefits even as the NDIS is built.”
The COAG communique said it was recognised that the most needy and vulnerable Australians needed support but change could only be achieved step by step over a number of years.
Some 70 per cent of disability care and support services are funded by state and territory governments.
“To develop a national scheme it was recognised that the level and share of commonwealth funding will need to increase,” it said.
The communique said broad principles had been agreed on, which now required more detail and tangible progress with “a careful and cautious approach”.
COAG has asked its select council on disability reform to work on funding, governance and the scope of eligibility and support as a priority so these matters can be considered at the next COAG meeting.
COAG reaffirmed a commitment to high environmental standards but pledge to reduce duplication and double-handling of environmental assessments.
Existing rules giving the commonwealth the final say on projects that affect world heritage sites or commonwealth waters, as well as nuclear actions and defence development will remain.
But COAG will also consider improving approval processes for those categories.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said he looked forward to seeing the review into the way GST revenue is carved up because present arrangements were “dysfunctional”.
The review will be given to the states and territories before the May 8 federal budget, the COAG meeting was told.
“There needs to be fundamental reform, the system is broken,” Mr Barnett said

He also rejected the notion the UN’s environmental arm, UNESCO, should have a say in the management of the reef.

Mr Seeney called the World Heritage zone ‘a declaration that’s made by people in Brussels and Paris who are ridiculously remote from the situation’.

Mt Isa MP Rob Katter said Mr Seeney’s comments flew in the face of statements made ahead of last month’s election, which delivered a massive majority to the Liberal National Party (LNP).

‘The LNP are proving that they are completely hypocritical with their rhetoric prior to the campaign now washed away with absolute power,’ Mr Katter said on Friday.

‘Prior to the election the LNP campaigned against Labor’s Gladstone Harbour policy but now they have rushed ahead with new approvals and are pushing to change marine park boundaries and reduce protections.’

Earlier on Friday, opposition leader Annastasia Palaszczuk said Mr Seeney would strip back powers that had been in place for many year

But did you enjoy the benefits of the new airport in Canberra. And I know you missed it but Barry wants Canberra to be the new 2nd Sydney airport. So with Barry’s wishes in mind, theoretically Barry could get in his car and drive home.

So no more airport talk.
And miglo someone had the manflu while you were gone and alcohol, medicinal puposes only, was needed and supplied.

And while you were gone Canberra had its first frost……there could be a lot more manflu about …..cheers

On the local news. The NSW town of Gunning needs a new water filtration unit. Since the floods the town has had to boil all drinking water. The federal
government has pledged half the cost, the local govt has put up money but Barrel O’Lies has not put up the remaining money. So the federal govt has said
to Barrel put up your share within the next month or the money be withdrawn.

And guess who the local NSW member is non other than Katrina Hodgkinson, the Water Minister.

“With Council committing $1.1M to the project and $7.3 million from the Federal Government, Council applied to the NSW Government for funding assistance of $6.2M in March 2011. Unfortunately the Federal funding offer is due to expire on the April 30, 2012.

As Mayor it is unfathomable to me that whilst Upper Lachlan Shire has been successful in acquiring Federal money we are unable as yet to obtain a commitment from the NSW Government to support the project. This is despite the fact that the local member is Katrina Hodgkinson, the NSW State Minister for Primary Industries (which includes the water portfolio) and that the local area has a long history of supporting both the Liberal and National parties. ”http://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/news/local/news/general/gunning-water-not-good-enough/2481842.aspx?storypage=2

Sue, the manflu is a terrible disease and it only affects the strongest bodies. Untreated in can cause a slow and painful death and it may take months to finish off its victim. Victims can only be treated by a sympathetic woman. Unfortunately, most women are unaware of the severity of a manflu.

Cardinal Pelle believes in Darwinism and that animals have spirits or some such rubbish. Mr. Hockey must believe he has a magic pudding.

Mr Hockey’s speech contained a section entitled No new taxes’ but failed to include one word about Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave levy, which would actually increase the company tax rate, Senator Wong said.

Mr Hockey did tell the forum that a coalition government would introduce welfare reform to lift participation in the workplace.

He also reaffirmed the coalition’s promise to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which soon will be dismantled by the federal government.

And he repeated the opposition’s commitment to introducing mandatory cost-benefit analysis for all Commonwealth-funded infrastructure programs over $100 million.

Treasurer Wayne Swan told the forum that bringing the budget back to surplus had been made ‘substantially harder’ by $140 billion in revenue write-downs over the five years to 2012/13.

But he reiterated that delivering a surplus in 2012/13 was the responsible thing to do.

‘Returning to surplus ensures the government is not adding to price pressures in an economy experiencing a one-in-a-lifetime investment boom,’ he said.

‘Rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change are unlikely to mean the end of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, according to a new scientific study.

‘The Cell Press journal Current Biology this morning published what it says is the first large-scale investigation of climate effects on corals and found while some corals were dying, others were flourishing and adapting to the change in water temperatures.’

el gordo – Adaptation, or just weeds? The problem is that while some corals may survive, overall diversity is lost – and with it the fish and other critters that depend on that diversity (including human tourists.) If Kakadu was overrun with Cane Toads and Prickly Pear, no one would go there; same with the GBR.

“Premier Campbell Newman backs down on demands that Federal Government hand over powers for approving environmentally sensitive
developments

The backdown came after Mr Newman said he would use his first meeting of the Council of Australian Governments to muscle up to the Federal Government.”

I haven’t read this bit anywhere else

“He also gave preliminary backing to a related traffic accident scheme already existing in most states apart from Queensland and WA, that he had previously warned would result in car registration fees soaring.”

On the local news after the press conference I saw a shot of Can Do trying to walk out alongside the PM. The PM reached forward and grabbed hold of Giddins from Tassie. Nice try Can do but it looked as though the PM had had enough.

Your description of manflu @ 8:10 pm is spot-on, however I think I may be doomed to a slow, painful death. The womenfolk here just don’t seem to care :( Daughter, who has 8-10 sooky, snotty-nosed toddlers to care for each day, just tells me to “harden the fck up Princess”, and Mrs Bacchus thinks that the fact that she could potentially die if the melanoma she’s having sliced out of her left arm on Monday has spread further, trumps manflu.

Yeah, sounds great Bacchus, at least you inside will be clean and rust free!!! :)
Oxalic acid is a constituent of many household products. It is found in many disinfectants, household bleach, metal cleaning liquids, antirust products and furniture polish. Its chemical formula is (COOH)2. Oxalic acid is a crystalline, colourless substance which is efflorescent. This means that it tends to become powdery on account of loss of water of crystallization. Its solubility is 1 in 12 in water. It is called Oxalic acid, after Greek “oxalis”, which means sorrel. It occurs in the sorrel plant, and because of this the French chemist Lavoisier, in 1787, named it Oxalic acid.”

Bacchus, although I know that monstera deliciosa are edible ,after all their other name is the fruit salad plant, I’ve never been quite game enough to try one. My understanding is that it’s the unripe fruit which have the oxalic acid, therefore poisonous..you have to wait until the fruit is ripe.

Exactly Min – I don’t like the taste of the unripe fruit – VERY sharp, but when
it’s ripe, it has a delicious fruit salad flavour. Patience is the key to eating them. The one in the link above is quite ripe – I usually can’t wait that long to start eating them. As soon as the skin starts falling off of its own accord, they can be eaten, but a little bit longer is better.

Poisonous is a strong term for these fruit – I don’t know anyone who’d like them when they’re not ripe enough to eat. All other parts of the plant – leaves, stems & roots are very high in oxalic acid, therefore poisonous, but a ripe fruit is fine :)

CU, I think you’re right. They say Labor has moved to the right and abandoned the values of the left. To an extent that is true; there has been a shift right to a more centrist pov, but so has the country.

The world has changed radically since Labor was last in power and Labor has had to change with it. The present government is looking to the future and is doing everything it can to place us in the best position for a future most of us will not be around to see.

And that is the real difference between this government and a LNP government. They are looking backwards to the Howard era; that is where they feel comfortable and it’s where they will drag us if we let them.

The Howard government was never forward looking; it always harked back to its master’s favourite period; the fifties. And that’s where they are stuck, with the possible exception of Malcolm Turnbull.

But he seems to have no vision for the future; he’s all about the present, it seems to me.

Like you, I am comfortable with this government in the main. There are a few things I think they could do better, like gay marriage, for example. It still baffles me that the PM is so opposed to such a fundamental thing, particularly as there seems to be no logic to her stance.

I have heard once again Mr. Abbott say the deal Labor has with the Greens has been a problem for Labor.

I suggest it has been a problem for Mr. Abbott. This has been a very stable and productive government. It has manage to do most of what it set out to do. It is now moving forward. The PM looks very much in charge and comfortable.

Jane, as much as we would like it, we cannot have everything we want. at least we cannot have it all at ones.

Here are some that have answered my challenge. Do many agree. I am not too sure what most are on about.

The someone was me. I do agree that Labor should have dumped the intervention, but I suspect it is now much different from the Howard model.

Yes, there has been problems with asylum seekers but they have move to a more humane system.

The school chaplains need to go.

Still have not explained what the values should be.

Someone said something about “Labor walked away from their values” and was taken to task.
In my view it isn’t just a throwaway ‘anti-Labor’ line. I don’t speak for the other commenter but here are some examples to my mind:
Pro war.
Anti refugee.
Pro expanded uranium mining and nuclear waste storage in Australia.
Free-market fundamentalist/neo-liberal economics and policies.
The solution to climate change must be a market mechanism rather than regulation.
Blurring of church and state (eg: chaplains, education and health).
‘Pragmatic’ on the environment.
Pro ‘intervention’.
Anti Assange.
Beefed up security state (eg: using ASIO to spy on activists, war on terror).
Kow-towing to Murdoch.
(specific Qld example: Asset privatisation even though very unpopular and without campaigning on it).
This isn’t meant to be exhaustive at all, it’s just that my view is that there is some substance to the idea that ALP today has “walked away” from values it had, or only ever pretended to stand for to attract that segment on the electorate who also hold such values (‘whatever it takes’).

Alan
April 14th, 2012 at 16:35 | #4 Reply | Quote
The ALP has abandoned distributive justice which was their core value and the reason for their existence. Everything else flows from that one abandonment, whether it’s their absurd environmental approach, their oppression of refugees, their denial of rights to Aborigines, or their conviction that micromanaging everything will lead to good outcomes.

Cu, the school chaplains have to go. There is no place for them in secular schools. Irrespective of their intentions, it’s always going to get back to Jesus. And while Jesus has some great ideas about alleviating poverty and standing up to governments, I do not trust religions to interpret his ideas accurately. Take a great idea and stuff it up, that’s what religions do.

MAVERICK Health Services Union national secretary Kathy Jackson has employed a union-busting lawyer to bring union charges against suspended union boss Michael Williamson.
Ms Jackson said yesterday she had delivered 1900 pages of union documents to industrial lawyer Stuart Wood SC, a vice-president of the conservative HR Nicholls Society who acted against the Maritime Union of Australia during the 1998 war on the wharves. Asked why she had gone to Mr Wood, Ms Jackson told The Weekend Australian, “I rang Mr Wood because I tried getting representation from the labour law firms and they were all conflicted; they all work for the HSU.” Mr Wood took the case pro bono

In an astonishing move, a leading Melbourne union-busting barrister Stuart Wood, who is a former vice-president and board member of the HR Nicholls Society, has emerged as the HSU’s chief crook Kathy Jackson’s lawyer, on a pro bono basis.

Wood is not merely a barrister either but is probably one of the best union-busting advocates in the land, normally charging as much as $12,000 a day, often for clients of the highly regarded big bad boss employer firm Freehills, whose collection of art on its walls often inspired me to think that their clients were being extremely generous payers (to their lawyers if not their workers). Our visits there were purely for social or intelligence-gathering reasons.

“Wood recently emerged as an interested person in the HSU case, advising Liberal shadow minister Eric Abetz on the legalities on the release of the Fair Work Australia report.”

You think Eric would have learnt something after Godwin Grech. Next thing we will hear is Eric inviting Kathy Jackson to have a chat at a Senate committee. That was such fun last time, ’cause the 2 big TV shots were Grech walking away from the Senate and the police arriving at Grech’s house to collect the evidence.

Sue, it’s looking very possible that Jackson has the same grandiose personality as EricA.
Can you imagine the old farts at the HR Nicholls Society [along with the good Senator and his colleagues, maybe], plotting ways to make things happen?

Sue, the Vex News story is very interesting, and yes, Thomson seems to have slipped down the order of importance somewhat.

Bob, judging by her cockiness in front of the camera and being courted by the HRN Society, she may not see that coming.

Cu, that’s just as likely as not.

Given that Thomson might not be the road to the Lodge that the Libs were fondly imagining, it looks like they are they going after the HSU and FWA, still with the idea that they can somehow embroil the government?
Meanwhile the msm continue to support their man !

CU
it sure makes interesting reading on the blogs. what i found annoying at the press conference called yesterday, was the quiet from the msm.there was
kathy beaming into the cameras asking for any questions. the only thing
revealing was the question about her income. where was the question about why did you accept a union bashing barrister?it only took a google to check out the barristers background. so were the press too stunned to ask or too conflicted? it is about time the depth or contagion of kathy jackson started being revealed by the msm or else the msm will be seen as useless as in the aftermath of the “ute” grech exaggeration.

And CU in one article I read it said that up to now Jackson had been supported by the victorian labor “right”. And if memory serves it is the same faction that gave gillard grief over same sex marriage legislation. And is why the labor mp (stephen jones) from nsw has launched the private members bill.

Actually Sue, not only has it been quieter for Thomson, the media generally have not picked up on Jackson’s latest interview with the gusto one might have expected. Some blogs yes, but is it possible that the MSM have seen the need for caution? I thought some of the things Jackson said were actionable if without proof.

I think that Abbott or friends are pulling the strings here. Looking for anti-govt noise and static. That press conference was timed to upstage the PM coming out of CHOGM, but of course with no foreknowledge of the big story of the day, Bob Brown’s departure.

I sure hope that Catching up is right and that this all spells danger for Abbott. Look at how much he involved himself in bringing Pauline Hanson down, got her jailed in fact. A decision later reversed. How he got away with that, I’ll never know.

Oh what a laugh, the head of the AOC, Coates has decided to berate the PM because she is actually doing her job, attending the G20 rather than go to a fund raiser dinner for the AOC.

And the funniest/ stupidist/ egocentrist /

“Mr Coates said the date for the dinner could have been changed if Ms Gillard had notified organisers sooner that it clashed with her commitments abroad, including the G20 summit.”

Yes the PM of Australia should check with el presidenta Coates before making her plans.

But that wasn’t enough for Coates here comes the threat
“The only thing I’ve done is talk to [Sports Minister] Kate Lundy about it and say if it is irreversible I think it would be wise if you were to get the Prime Minister to put that out as a position before you read about this.”

Well even with such a threat and a liitle bit of advice
“warned that her absence would be a missed opportunity politically”
it has not worked, so Coates decided to go to the press.

Even the reporter must have thought Coates was a bit above himself as he has decided to print some facts

“John Howard did not attend the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 or the Athens Games in 2004, but used the 2000 Games in Sydney to his political advantage.

“wants every new mum to get a $10,000 baby bonus.”
You even get those facts wrong

“to double the baby bonus for stay-at-home mums to $10,000″

And that from the first line of the article.

An election pitch for the country gals to equal Abbott’s city working wealthy mums $75000 deal. Don’t believe me? then read about it, it is only a little further on.

“Fearing a backlash over the generosity of the Coalition’s proposed paid-parental-leave scheme, which would offer wealthy working women up to $75,000, the Nationals have proposed a better deal for stay-at-home mums.”

Aspiration? Non core? Or just like Barnaby’s promise to his country cousins on the Telstra sale!

El gordo, that baby bonus is not a good idea unless it can be proven that the money is going to be spent on the baby. When this bonus was first introduced there were numerous examples of 1. women being coerced into a pregnancy so that their drug addict bf could get the money. 2. the money being spent on luxury items.

Fair enough to help young needy families – however, it should be in the form of vouchers – to buy a pram, car seat, baby clothes. That way it can be assured that the money will be spent as it was intended.

Barnaby is a Mick (for the luv of god they like big families) so its only natural that he would push a large baby bonus.

I accept there are pitfalls in the idea of offering money to women to have babies, but historically it has always been a harmless pork barrel.

On a different matter…Barry O’Farrell just said with the GFC the federal government should have put money into fast rail and not pink batts. That may not have been exactly what he said….I tend to get my facts wrong.

It’s a big deal, this prime minister’s dinner. It’s one of the great corporate dinners in Australia,’

How bright is our corporate sector when they make a date for a ‘prime minister’s dinner’ on the same date that is well known (you would have thought) that the PM will be overseas at a very public G20 meeting.

Bacchus, not only have you been willingly led astray, I reiterate my claims that you in fact have a bad case of bottle flu. Hope all goes well for Mrs Bacchus tomorrow. :)

Bob @11.37pm 14/4, I suspect Ms Jackson doesn’t have the wit to make that leap. She’s rat cunning, spiteful, self important and vindictive, but believes all the flattery and lies pouring out of Liars Party mouths.

I don’t think she’s stopped for a nano second to ask herself why a very highly paid HR Nicholls barrister would be taking her on pro bono. I’d say they’ve been stroking that inflated ego of hers for all it’s worth and she’s purring like a well-fed lion.

I also think her fairweather friends have expunged the Grech affair from their minds and are rushing headlong into another disaster of their own making and Jackson will be the first piece of flotsam ejected. I also think she’s too dumb to realise how expendable she is. I almost feel sorry for her……nah!

Sue @12.10am, the reason the msm asked Jackson no questions is the same reason they never ask Liealot any questions-there must be no scrutiny, on the Emperor’s orders.

Hopefully, the Murdochracy will turn to dust in the immediate future and all but the diehards will start doing their job.

patriciawa @1.37am, I think it is desperation measures for Liealot. Nothing he has done to unseat the PM and force an election has worked so far. It’s do or die; hopefully the latter.

Sue @8.01am, and what’s wrong with the AOC putting forward the dates for their fundraiser to check whether it clashed with the unimportant duties of running the country?

Perhaps if Mr Coates got his hand off it……….

el gordo, Barrell O’Lies record so far doesn’t inspire much confidence in anything that falls out of his gob. He seems to have been infected with Liealot’s disease-Brain Fart Syndrome. :lol:

Thanks Jane @ 10:43 am. Just got to keep her thinking positive thoughts and not worrying about what might happen.

I’ve had a small piece taken out of my face & daughter has had a couple of larger chunks taken out of her back & shoulder, but all have turned out to be benign. This is the first brush we’ve had with melanoma for real.

Mr Coates praised former prime minister Kevin Rudd for his decision to attend the Olympics in Beijing, the first PM to do so since Malcolm Fraser in 1976.

“Rudd got it,” Mr Coates said.

Ms Gillard said she was a strong supporter of the Olympic team and her government had a proud record of supporting Australian Olympians, through funding and fundraising support.

“I look forward to following the Olympic team’s efforts in London and will be cheering them on,” she said.

The Australian Republican Movement weighed into the debate, with new national director David Morris, a former diplomat recently appointed to the role, saying it gave impetus to the argument for an Australian head of state.

Murray Rose was being hailed as one the greatest swimmers of all time and an Australian Olympic legend following his death on Sunday after a battle with leukaemia.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist died in Sydney on Sunday morning, aged 73, having been ill for several months and his passing was met with by a flood of tributes from the wider Australian sporting community

Pip, Murray Rose an amazing hero and an encouragement for kids to learn to swim. We take it for granted in Australia that everyone can swim, it wasn’t always so and nor is it so in other countries. The name Murray Rose brings memories of doing laps at the Glenferrie pool.

Min, I hope everything is OK with your Mum. Please wish her well from me.

Bacchus, will be thinking of Mrs Bacchus and the Bacchus family, tomorrow.

Migs, sorry to hear the bad newsabout your marriage, but when it’s not working, it’s best to part on amicable terms. All the best to you both as you go your separate ways.

You can say black is white for as long as you like. It does not make black, white.

But he’ll keep on trying, CU. He really seems to believe that if you say it often enough he’ll convince himself at least.

Seems like O’Farrell also subscribes to the same fairy story wrt a second airport in Sydney..How does it make any sense on any level for Canberra airport to function as Sydney’s second airport?

Do you get the taxi ride or flight to get to and from Canberra airport for nix? FFS, how long does it take to drive from Sydney to Canberra? Finally, is O’Farrell completely insane or just extremely stupid?

Migs, It was the big band era in B.H. at the time…. there was great empathy that “the band played on”… the Barrier Industrial Union band from that era still exists today…. http://www.biuband.com.au/index.html

Today’s speech was pretty much the same as all his other speeches … ‘great Australian business, manufacturing is our lifeblood, carbon tax will destroy the economy, government out of touch, etc, etc, ad nauseam‘. Yawn … cut, paste, move on. But then there was this gem:

‘I call on the workers of Australia to rise up, to rise up against this carbon tax and let the government know – ‘

Mrs Bacchus’ has returned from her ordeal – the next couple of nights will be fun for her trying to sleep though, with a bandage the size of a small tent covering the huge chunk of arm he took out. 8O

The excision of the cancer came back with a result of 1 :)

Clark level – This may be on your pathology report. It is a number (1–5) describing how deeply the cancer has penetrated into the skin. Lower Clark levels indicate that the cancer remains close to the skin’s surface (more superficial); higher levels show that the cancer has penetrated more deeply in the skin.

Does this mean I’ve got two reasons to open a bottle tonight Jane? A good result for Mrs Bacchus and as a further cure for my amazingly dangerous and debilitating man flu? :lol:

Contrary to the Leader of the Opposition demanding that the Prime Minister should interfere in the Fair Work Australia business, which would be improper,
the man that Abbott so badly wants out of Parliament, Craig Thomson has said this:-

”There are issues that have been raised about Fair Work Australia,” he said. ”Whether they are right or wrong, the best thing they can do is give their report to the police. Let the police do their job; they can investigate, they can charge and people can have some confidence in the result.”

It was reported at the weekend that Mr Thomson, acting on legal advice, has declined to talk to Strike Force Carnarvon, which is investigating allegations of extensive corruption in the HSU.

Mr Thomson may soon co-operate with the investigation but says it concerns events at the HSU’s East branch when he was not there.

Pip @ 4:03 pm, tabot actually clearly explains in that talk the difference between a Carbon Tax and a Carbon Price that was being proposed at the time (with a fixed price, that may look and smell like a tax, but is clearly different from a Carbon Tax)

tabot says he prefersa carbon tax on energy consumption

What we have is a Carbon Price on energy production. Sure it is passed on (probably) to consumers, but it is this basic structure that differentiates the two, and the media REFUSE to acknowledge this.

Instead, they play this ‘looks like, smells like’ game of Humpty Dumpty, and further confuse the poor readers over just what the Government is proposing. Gillard went to pains to highlight this distinction, she should have gone to far further pains imo. The media didn’t care though, they had their alleged ‘gotcha’.

Pet hate: the way that the opposition state that they don’t have to explain anything, not policies nor costings..in fact the opposition remains a fact-free zone. The media in response happily agrees with this, never ask questions of the opposition..presumably because they’re not the government..yet this same media are quite happy to proclaim at every available opportunity how Tony is going to romp it in. If so, shouldn’t the media be asking questions about the implications of a Tony Abbott government.

Bacchus, fantastic news about Mrs Bacchus. I missed the news last night because Liealot’s marvellous wireless broadband was on the blink.

As a reward you may have an extra gargle for the next few days, however, Mrs Bacchus must have the lioness’s share.

Tom R @8.16am, obviously he suffers from Alzheimer’s as he clearly seems unable to remember what he said to Fran Kelly.

Perhaps that recording should be played every time he opens his lying gob about the carbon price, surely the voters have the right to know what he really thinks and would be likely to do if they gave the bugger the reins of government.

Frankly, it wouldn’t hurt the Iain Halls to hear what Liealot favours and what is and what is not, a carbon tax.

In that clip he refers to imposing a carbon tax on fuel. It also wouldn’t hurt to remind people that the Howard government, which included Liealot, also managed a double GST dip on fuel and now he wants to impose a further tax on them every time they fuel up.

on April 17, 2012 at 10:50 amMin
Nas’, because of course the implication is that she’s not. It’s the same as asking a question when you already know the answer.

Indeed Min…but of course the question of trustworthiness is the key to their ongoing attack campaign…linked primarily to the carbon price…they’re all excited due to the QLD election result…but the lack of TRUSTWORTHINESS approach is nothing unusual:

The Crackers Award* this week goes to the Institute of Public Affairs**, the cash for comment think tank of choice for the Liberal Party, Big Tobacco, Big Coal, Big Carbon and many other fellow travellers. Environment editor Sandi Keane reports.

by environment editor Sandi Keane
There’s nothing much that’s public about the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).

Pip, I have somewhat mixed feeling on Afghanistan. Just because it’s a failure, does it mean that we should not be there. What was it that we were trying to achieve? There was a lot about the emancipation of women and children. Has this been achieved? Not so, only in the allied forces zones. Otherwise, we still have forced child marriages and the stoning of women to death because they are rape victims.

What will withdrawal of our forces mean to the Afghani people..a return to fundamentalism where women are stoned because they dare learn to read.

We have been there for such a long time, and I will not recount the stuff ups along the way..but I believe that we do have some responsibility in this matter. If we stuffed it up, then we should be there to fix it.

Min,
The Afghanistan debacle is what we get for not remembering history’s lessons…

and allowing certain corporations and their ex-CEOs and employees to run a significant part of the show…and suck up taxpayer’s money like a gigantic Hoover.

Not to mention creating heaps of opportunities for the Taliban to recruit and get outside assistance due to the bombing and shooting of innocent civilians oft in pursuit of a gang of ideological thugs led by a tall man who shoulda been caught years ago (but was conveniently missed extending the war into insanity years)…until he was knocked off in Pakistan living within spitting distance of our so called Pakistani allies.

This war has been a cruel ruse and profiteering venture played on many a courageous soldier and civilian…

and should remind for yonks all voters that they cannot trust the private business sphere to do the right thing…that outsourcing war does not win wars…but it sure as hell just about bankrupts countries…that our brave troops should be remunerated a damn site better…and used for essential campaigns…not to prop up presidents, prime ministers, corporations and any dick looking to make a quick, easy buck.

Nas’ indeed. During the time when the Taliban were considered US allies, great inroads were made – the cash crop being opium for international markets had been almost eradicated and replaced with food crops. The negative at the same time was the subjugation of women and female children.

That is, people were starving while the farmers grew opium poppies. The Taliban banned the growing of opium.

However since then opium is once again the major export of Afghanistan under the auspicies of the Americans. The status of women has been raised, but only in some areas.

It is often swept under the carpet, but to my way of thinking the reason that we’re in Afganistan is to prop up the American drug lords, Afghanistan being their major supplier.

Get out of Afghanistan? Maybe. But will this stop the drug lords in America from accessing their suppliers. This then gets back to the legalisation of drugs – it will never happen as the illicit international drug trade is worth billions. Make it legal..hardly, not when it’s worth billions to have it illegal.

Removal of the Taliban, who were at the time harbouring a known Terrorist. Everything else is just cleaning up the mess (although, in the case of the treatment of women, we might even leave things better off.)

It is unfortunate, but it appears to be too closely linked with Iraq in many discussions these days. They are comepletely seperate issues, and the reasons for going into each were completely seperate issues.

The UN backed the invasion of Afghanistan, they did not support the invasion of Iraq.

So, the PM makes a major speech about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. The first question from a reporter is at least on the topic, but interesting, considering the way the ABC decide to release this announcement

American troops will not be back home from Afghanistan until after 2014. That is when the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is scheduled to be operational.

In the mid 1990s, Unocol [Union Oil Company of California, which merged with Chevron in 2005] began plans for an oil and a gas pipeline from rich oilfields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, that would run from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan and Pakistan and finally to India. A route through Afghanistan is the shortest route to the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline.

The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is the reason the Taliban rose to power. Unocol and the CIA helped to put the Taliban in power, thinking that the new regime would permit them to build the pipeline. Once in power, the Taliban failed to keep its part of the bargain.

[In October 2001, the United States responded to the 9/11 attacks by invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban.]

On December 22, 2001 a US-backed interim government headed by Hamid Karzai took office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai had formerly functioned as a Unocal Corporation consultant.

Almost immediately, talks resumed about the planned Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. The new deal on the pipeline was signed on 27 December 2002 by the leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The 1,680 kilometre (1,040 mi) pipeline will run from the Dauletabad gas field to Afghanistan. From there TAPI will be constructed alongside the highway running from Herat to Kandahar, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India.

The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2014. In order to build that pipeline, the U.S. needs to subdue the Taliban.

This is not my field, so will be listening and learning. Our people are not doing much good there, too small a presence. It would be better money for value if the cost of the Diggers was spend on humanitarian aid. I stand open to criticism on this one. Debate on this topic an open one as far as I’m concerned.

Can the Liberals/Nats get one single solitary piece of legislation together without stuffing it up..

NATIONALS leader Warren Truss says his party will not push ahead with a policy to double the baby bonus for stay-at-home mums to $10,000 because it is “simply not affordable in the current economic environment”.

Amid controversy over Barnaby Joyce’s apparent backflip in support for the plan, Mr Truss today said the policy was all but dead.

Teachers are still formulating a response to the draft national curriculum, scheduled to be introduced next year.

Queensland History Teachers’ Association head Kay Bishop said the curriculum asked students to develop their historical skills in an “investigation of a controversial issue” such as “human origins (eg, Darwin’s theory of evolution and its critics”).

“It’s opening up opportunities for debate and discussion, not to push a particular view,” Ms Bishop said. Classroom debate about issues encouraged critical thinking – an important tool, she said.

With the right teacher children might learn how to think critically, but creationism need not be the topic to achieve this!

Associated Christian Schools executive officer Lynne Doneley welcomed the draft curriculum, saying it cemented the position of a faith-based approach to teaching.

“We talk to students from a faith science basis, but we’re not biased in the delivery of curriculum,” Mrs Doneley said. “We say, ‘This is where we’re coming from’ but allow students to make up their own minds.”

Nas’, it’s all about a very narrow field of imagination. As always the truth sits there somewhere in the middle, or more than likely far way beyond our imaginings.

I think that ancient ancestors had it about right, that there is the creator but He is not in this narrow mindset of what creation means. Why for example can God not create evolution. That seems a reasonable thing to do. And who the hell are we to tell God what to anyway. He did warn us, that we are created in His imagination..and by God, he’s got one hell of an imagination. I kinda like the old bugger, but don’t tell Him that I said so.

Same-sex marriage, personal integrity and even burning the Australian flag were among the hot topics as Opposition Leader Tony Abbott faced questions from people in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs today.
Hundreds of people, mostly elderly, filled a forum at Wantirna, with regular bursts of applause following Mr Abbott’s responses suggesting most of them were already on his side.

and

The Opposition Leader repeatedly hinted at conservative spending when peppered with queries about investment in everything from youth community groups to self-funded retirees, should he run the country.
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“When you’ve got a $20 billion surplus, it’s a lot easier (to spend generously) than when you’ve got a $50 billion deficit, and that’s the problem,” Mr Abbott told the forum, pointing to a drastic

Maybe he does manage to tell the truth when is suits him. Have not seen any evidence of this so far.

When quizzed on his personal integrity, Mr Abbott said he had strived throughout his two decades in politics to be authentic, and that people should never allow things within their control to break their promises.
“I think I can put my hand on my heart and say I have done my damndest to be true to the things that I have stated I will do,” he said.

Cu, on this I believe Abbott absolutely..he expects girls to remain virgins, Bernie Banton wasn’t authentic, that it’s ok to swear at women, that there is nothing wrong with standing in front of signs saying Ditch the Witch..and god only knows what else Tony thinks because he does little else than to pose in lycra.

Give it a few more months…alot more scrutiny of Mr. Abbott and his friend Barnaby…and a few of their supporters, the not so faceless…and faceless…and by early next year we should be seeing a waning of support for the “dickhead” and his Coalition.

You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of irrational, delusional mind. A journey into a bizarre land whose boundaries are that of loopy imagination. That’s an Intelligent Design signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

You unlock this door with the key of Creationism. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of naked people, a dimension of apples, a dimension of serpents. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and fig leaf…floppy thingies and gardens of utopia. You’ve just crossed over into…an acid trip…perhaps schizo moment…called the Twilight Zone.

Mild phhhhtttt! – there’s no such a thing 8O Man flu is deadly and dangerous! Yield to the disease Migs. I am alive to tell of the miracle of the Dr LOVO and Dr Tom R cure for man flu. Open another bottle and be healed Migs :mrgreen:

N’….”floppy thingies “(got one of them,check..)….”a dimension of naked people,”( I wish :oops: …)..”A journey into a bizarre land whose boundaries are that of loopy imagination.” :shock: ( Right so Ive logged onto C.W. :mrgreen: )….”an acid trip”….um, :oops: all I noticed was it said Min in bottom left hand corner of vid???? :) …… doo, doo,do,do… your next stop the (oh,baby)…the LOVO zone….. :lol:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been accused of playing politics with the announcement of a detailed timeframe for troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.

The Prime Minister made a long speech explaining the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and it was clear that the decision is about all the countries involved, which will meet in Chicago to discuss the withdrawal.

JULIA GILLARD: I am now confident Chicago will recognise mid-2013 as a key milestone in the international strategy; a crucial point when the international forces will be able to move to a supporting role across all of Afghanistan.

Andrew Wilkie jumped the gun, so to speak, with this silly statement:-

TOM IGGULDEN: Critics say there’s more than military strategy feeding into the withdrawal timetable.

ANDREW WILKIE, INDEPENDENT MP: It’s all about the Prime Minister wanting to get this off the table as an election issue at next year’s federal election.

If he wanted to sound reasonable he would have mentioned the US and their election in November this year.
He would also have known that President Karzai and the military leaders will also have a say about when the forces leave Afghanistan.

If he didn’t know this then he’s a fool to say anything at all, and if he did know but chose to criticise our Prime Minister alone then a different adjective is required.

Trading on his previous talents as an intelligence analyst will only get him so far.

JULIA Gillard’s $10 billion green bank will begin writing the first loans for renewable energy and emissions reductions projects as early as July 1 next year – just weeks before a federal election will decide the future of the carbon pricing package.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation will write loans with terms of more than a decade, providing a potential complication to Tony Abbott’s vow to scrap the carbon pricing scheme in favour of his direct action plan if he wins power at the next election.

If as it says Abbott wants more information, than you would think Abbott would make himself available,rather than send Brandis
.
“The Acting Chief of the Defence Force will this morning give the Federal Opposition a confidential briefing on plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he supports the judgement of Australia’s Defence chiefs, but wants more information from the Government about the situation.

Defence chiefs will provide the briefing to the Coalition’s acting Defence spokesman, George Brandis.”

Bailleau wants Federal money, $30 million to think about possibly asking for more money to build his number one infrastrucutre project.

So, all you tax payers around Australia, how would you judge that approach on the Waste Scale.
“Victoria has asked the federal government’s major projects adviser – Infrastructure Australia – for an initial $30 million to plan and develop the project, and will only then consider another submission for federal money to help fund it.

A spokeswoman for the state government confirmed the initial $30 million, if received, would be used to examine ”construction, delivery and finance options”. She said Victoria would then consider a second submission asking for funding to begin work.

THE Gillard government will fireproof its $10 billion green technology fund against an attack from any future Coalition government by forcing Tony Abbott to repeal legislation in order to shut down the flow of money.

Ensuring its clean energy policies are carved in stone even if it loses next year’s election, Labor indicated yesterday that the funding for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation would be ”specifically appropriated” in legislation to be introduced to Parliament next month.

And it was Abbot that suggested Gillard wanted the troops home for political reasons. What a sh1t he is.
It proves Abbott’s lack of interest in the War in Afghanistan, as stated in the news the international response has been to transition to the Afghannies. If Abbott thinks he is PM material he should take responsibilty and keep abrest of the facts.

Sue, apart from Abbott saying that he’s not all that interested in the economy, the other one was foreign affairs…exactly what is it that Tony Abbott is interested in, oh that’s right it’s Tony Abbott.

JENNIFER HEWETT
The night before Kevin Rudd was rolled as prime minister, he and miner Andrew Forrest had just agreed to transform the resource super profits tax into a radical proposal to revolutionise the delivery of infrastructure in Australia.
Under the in-principle agreement hammered out over a few frantic days in June 2010, mining companies could have avoided liability for the ­proposed 40 per cent tax by instead writing off their capital expenditure on infrastructure.
The deal was hurriedly developed by a prime minister under great political pressure to settle the damaging fight with the mining industry and a chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group who believed the planned tax would have triggered the threat of potential default for his company under United States laws.
The agreement would have split the mining industry’s fervent opposition to the resource super profits tax and immediately given the then prime minister a politically valuable and visible ally in selling a grand “national interest’’ alternative to the public

Mr Rudd’s office refused to ­comment yesterday. But Mr Forrest confirmed that key figures in the rest of the government were also involved in the discussions on Monday, June 21 and Tuesday, June 22, 2010, with ­regular input from the Treasurer’s chief of staff, Chris Barrett, and other Treasury officials, as well as advisers from the office of Resources Minister Martin Ferguson.
“By Monday night, we felt we had an agreement,’’ Mr Forrest said. “I believe Rudd briefed his senior ministers on Tuesday morning on his plan to switch the RSPT into the biggest infrastructure boom imaginable. It would have been a huge legacy for a Labor government. The prime minister wanted to go public with the new deal on Friday.

Now the view that Government debt is having a significant impact on interest rates might pass muster if we lived in a closed economy where the Government and banks had to fight for the same domestic source of finance.

But the reality is banks now raise funds through a number of ways (as I discussed in February). The sense that the Government’s borrowing is increasing the costs for banks to raise money on the international bond market is laughable.The line however contains enough "oh he's talking about finance stuff, he must know what's going on" to allow him to get away with it.
And if he says it enough, well then people start to think it is truth, and it gets nary a challenge.Except here’s a shock: banking costs in the past few months have actually gone down. Yep down.

As I said earlier today, a little truth would go a long way with Mr. Abbott.

Interesting NPC on employment and causalisation of the workforce.

THE Reserve Bank has raised fresh doubts over banks’ justification for raising mortgage rates outside of official moves, saying lenders have benefited from a ‘‘significant’’ drop in the cost of borrowing.
ANZ sparked a political backlash after it raised mortgage rates last week by 0.06 of a percentage point, blaming higher bank funding costs.
But minutes from this month’s Reserve Bank board meeting, published yesterday, said the banks’ cost of wholesale debt had fallen in March, capping further falls in previous months.
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The minutes said bank funding costs had dropped ‘‘significantly’’ since the start of the year. Long-term debt was 50 basis points cheaper, helping ‘‘alleviate the pressure of higher funding costs in coming months.’’

Yet all we see on any news outletis is wall to wall Abbott spruiking his inaccurate campaign slogans, none of which should recommend him as a credible leader.

The media have been so hung up on the hung Parliament, {sorry :lol:} and it’s “fragile” situation, they’ve assumed that it didn’t matter what the government is doing because it will be knocked off any day now, and proceeded to count the ways it might happen.

Min, good news about the economy, but Liealot will still get the nodding heads despite the truth.

Pip, as usual Grog gets it right.

CU, giving the lie to the dog whistling from the ignoramuses in the Liars Party and the dissemblers in the rip off banking industry.

Reading all the bullshit emanating from Andrew Wilkie and the usual Liars Party suspects, I heard the PM’s broadcast re the withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan and at no time did she say it will be done without consultation with Defence chiefs and all the other parties involved.

If agreement is reached, troops may start being withdrawn as early as 2013.

I think Mr Wilkie is mischief making because his pokie reform legislation has been knocked on the head for the time being. But there’s little chance of it reaching the Senate atm, so there obviously needs to be negotiation with Windsor and Oakeshott for it to have a chance.

I think there needs to be a huge public awareness campaign from the pro reform camp, to negate the barracking from Big Clubs etc. For a start making it known how little of the giant profits is coughed up to the communities would be a good start, imo.

People might realise how badly they’re being ripped off and turn on the pokies lobby and their puppets the Liars Party.

the jericho article is such an indictment of journalists, that they should hang their heads in shame. the analogy that a sports writer knows more on his subject than a political/economics writer is so apt that the sports guys should laugh at their colleagues.

As to wilkie, reporters and the pokie lobby shame on all. a simple look at the annual reports of all the clubs is all that was required for any reporter of any worth to shoot down the pokie lobby lies. wilkie could and should have stood at all his press confereces with the evidence and challenged the reporters, who flocked to his press conferences. every time a reporter asked “will you withdraw your support of the govt” wilkie should have said “will you look at the evidence and report on it.”

Tough luck, the clubs were and are lying, wilkie has spoiled his own importance and the reporters are fools willing to run a press release as a story without due investigation.

“Mr Abbott says child abuse is “a terrible blot on society” that has to be eliminated but the blame should not be solely directed at the church.

“There has been a lot of pretty gruesome behaviour in many institutions over the years and we should be careful not to single out particular institutions, given that a lot of this has been or it was pandemic a generation ago,” he said.”

jane, how many from the business world, big or small, do you hear barracking for Mr. Abbott and his party. I must be deaf, as I do not hear any. Well any from the main stream business world. We can leave Mr. Palmer and Forester out of the picture. They are not the norm.

A problem was that victims of abuse were up against some very substantial institutions, the Catholic Church of Rome for one. How would one little girl or one little boy expect a fair hearing when the RC’s main aim was to protect itself.

That has been the pattern of behaviour, that pedophiles and other predators deliberately put themselves in situations of absolute trust. Be it scout masters, a priest or a teacher..it’s the same theme a position of trust and with access to children.

Then we have the situation where abuse of young boys was until recent times, to be seen as just a joke: Hey did you hear the one about the priest and the choir boy *guffaw*.

And then we have our former Governor General Hollingworth saying that the 13yr old girl was “wise beyond her years”, which then prompted her to put up a picture of herself, that being of a chubby child.